October 2022 Civic Affairs Report

By Elizabeth Gautschi, Civic Affairs Convenor

It’s Election Time! VOTE on October 15!

Important Dates to know:

Oct – Advance Voting Opportunities – dates vary. Check with your city electoral office. Oct 14 – Deadline for receiving mail-in ballot packages 4:00 pm

Oct 15 – General Voting Day from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm

Oct 19 – Declaration of official election results 4:00 pm

What’s happening in your riding? Do you know who is running for mayor? For council? For school board?

Two long-time city councillors, Harold Steves in Richmond and Lois Jackson in Delta, will not be running again. Harold Steves has served on Richmond City Council continuously since 1977, and served a previous term as alderman from 1968-1973 before serving as an NDP MLA from 1973-1975. He is one of the founders of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Lois Jackson served as Mayor of Delta from 1999 to 2018. She was elected to Delta Council in 1973 and became the first woman elected to the position of Delta Councillor. Under her leadership as Mayor, Lois served as Chair of the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors from 2006 to 2011.

In Port Coquitlam, Brad West has been acclaimed and has won a second term as Port Coquitlam mayor after no one signed up to run in opposition by the September 9 deadline. Two trustee spots on School District 43’s board of education will be held again by Michael Thomas and Christine Pollock, being acclaimed and earning a third and second term.

Delta residents will vote to elect one mayor, six city councillors, and seven school trustees. Candidates for mayor are: George V. Harvie, Joginder Randhawa, and Peter Van Der Velden.

New Westminster voters will elect one mayor, six councillors and seven school trustees. There are three candidates for mayor: Ken Armstrong, Patrick Johnstone and Chuck Puchmayr.

In the city of North Vancouver, voters will elect one Mayor, six Councillors, and three School Trustees. Linda Buchanan and Guy Heywood are the mayoral candidates.

In Surrey, there are 84 candidates running for office but there can only be one mayor, eight councillors and seven school trustees.

In Vancouver, with a long list of candidates, including 15 running for mayor, there is one mayor, ten councillors, seven park board commissioners and nine school trustees to be elected. There are now five main challengers in the race for Mayor: Fred Harding, Colleen Hardwick, Mark Marissen, Ken Sim, and Kennedy Stewart.

Remember that at our October 3 Vancouver Council of Women Meeting we will have an election panel made up of some of the women candidates running for Mayor, City Council, School Board and Parks Board. Since my last report, we now have 16 confirmed speakers at our event:

Mayor Colleen Hardwick (TEAM)
City Council Sarah Kirby Yung (ABC Vancouver)
Cleta Brown (TEAM)
Adriane Carr (Green)
Iona Bonamis, (One City)
Asha Hayer (Progress Vancouver)
Marie Noelle Rosa (Progress Vancouver) Elaine Allen (NPA)
Arezo Zarrabian (NPA)
Leslie Bolt (Vision)
School Board Susie Mah (COPE)
Krista Sigurdson (One City)
Park Board Laura Christensen (ABC Vancouver)
Maira Hassan (COPE)
Tricia Riley (Green)
Hilary Thomson (Vision)

Plan to attend our Vancouver Council of Women on October 3. Lunch is at 11:30 am and the Election Panel begins at 12:15 pm.

We have limited seating capacity. Please let Bev Wong know how many guests you will be bringing.

Are you registered to vote? Check with your city’s electoral office on line or by phone.

September 2022 Civic Affairs Report

By Elizabeth Gautschi, Civic Affairs Convenor

 

It’s Election Time! Across BC, municipal elections will take place on Saturday, October 15, 2022. Within Metro Vancouver, 12 mayors of 17 of the region’s largest municipal governments have confirmed their incumbency.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart and all of the present members of Vancouver City Council are standing for re-election. There are many contenders and more parties than previously. Some of the current City Council members have left their parties and joined new ones, or even started new ones. Vancouver voters will decide on:

  • 1 Mayor and 10 City Councillors 9 School Trustees
  • 7 Park Board Commissioners
  • 3 Capital Plan questions

At our October 3 Vancouver Council of Women Meeting we will have an election panel made up of some women candidates running for Mayor, City Council, School Board and Parks Board. At this time, confirmed speakers at our event are the following candidates:

Mayor Colleen Hardwick (TEAM)
City Council Sarah Kirby Yung (ABC Vancouver)
Cleta Brown (TEAM)
Adriane Carr (Green)
Iona Bonamis, (One City)
School Board Susie Mah (COPE)
Krista Sigurdson (One City)
Park Board Laura Christensen (ABC Vancouver)
Maira Hassan (COPE)
Tricia Riley (Green)

We are also expecting candidates from Forward Together Vancouver, NPA, and Vision.

Plan to attend and bring lots of questions!

Some of the current issues in Vancouver for the upcoming election include: homelessness, mental health and addiction, and The Broadway Plan, which is a 30-year plan to integrate new housing, jobs and amenities around the new Broadway subway. According to a survey by Research Co., just over half of Vancouver’s likely municipal election voters want to see the elected body of commissioners that govern the Vancouver Park Board abolished, with the responsibility of governing the city’s parks and recreation system then transferred to Vancouver City Council.